OTTAWA — A world-renowned government freshwater research facility in Ontario is getting a lifeline — through an agreement slated to be announced Monday by Premier Kathleen Wynne — that would allow it to survive through March of next year as federal and provincial officials continue complex negotiations to transfer the facility to a think tank.

The Experimental Lakes Area, a site of dozens of lakes that hosted research that supported a North American acid rain treaty as well as regulations on detergents, was slated for shutdown from federal budget cuts announced in 2012, but could soon see its infrastructure and federal scientists transferring to the private operator, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a Winnipeg-based research organization.

Melanie Carkner, a spokeswoman for the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans, confirmed Friday that the three parties had reached an “transitional” agreement and would be sharing the details on Monday.

The federal Fisheries Department would be expected to keep the site open as the parties continued negotiations on the transfer, preparations and inventory on site, and funding from Ontario to cover its existing commitment of up to $2 million in annual operating costs. The negotiations are also expected to establish new regulations to allow research experiments to continue on the lakes near Kenora in the eastern part of the province.

The agreement is expected to extend the current September deadline for finalizing the transfer until March 31, 2014.

“We are in negotiations because we are the only level of government that is prepared to put financial support toward this world-class and world-renowned research facility,” said Ontario Natural Resources Minister David Orazietti in an interview with Postmedia News on Aug. 21. “We’ve made the commitment publicly that we are committed to supporting financially the research that takes place in this world renowned facility.”

Several scientists from universities who have worked at the research site say they’ve had a hard time getting information about the future of ongoing experiments that examine a range of impacts over time including climate change and industrial pollution.

“I know there’s a lot of bureaucrats involved (in negotiations), I know there’s lots of lawyers involved, I know there’s not many scientists involved in the negotiations,” said Britt Hall, associate professor at the University of Regina’s biology department. “This is something that we’re concerned about because they’re negotiating this agreement without considering what science needs.”

Another scientist, Maggie Xenopoulos, associate professor of biology from Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., has seen a groundbreaking study on the environmental impacts of silver nanoparticles, an antibacterial coating on socks, underwear and other personal products, stalled because of uncertainty surrounding the future of the facility.

Xenopoulos and other researchers were awarded a federal research grant of about $800,000 to conduct an experiment on one of the lakes to measure impacts of the nanoparticles on the aquatic system, but was forced to extend the research project from three to four years without any additional funding because they were not allowed to do some work on site over the past summer.

The situation is setting a bad example for her students about the independence of scientific research with the government sending a message that it’s going to tell scientists “what you can do and when you can start it,” she said. “This is their future and they’re getting this message from their government.”

Greg Rickford, the federal Conservative minister responsible for science and technology told Postmedia News two weeks ago that the process was “moving forward” and the the government was “delighted” that scientific research was able to continue over the past summer.